So, I figured I should put an update out here of some kind. Mainly because it’s been a few weeks since I’ve really posted anything of substance and my sister (who really just needs to get off her ass and get on to some kind of social networking site instead of just lurking all the time) gets cranky at me when I don’t update my journal.

That’s right, folks. She calls me. To tell me to update my journal. So she can go read about what’s going on in my life.

I love my family.

Things have generally been pretty good around here recently. I’ve spent the last two weekends giving a little much-needed love to the yard. You can finally walk up to our house without getting attacked by the shrubbery again! Hooray! Put some mulch down in that particular “flower bed” as well and I must say it’s looking pretty nice. Definitely and improvement in the view I’ve got outside my window while I work. I also got the back flower bed trimmed back to reasonable levels again, which is a fairly daunting task in and of itself. We have several plants of the “thorny and quick to grow variety” that tend to take over the entire flower bed. If they are left on their own devices for too long (which, generally, is the case) they grow to gargantuan proportions and I end up covered in tiny cuts from where I’ve done battle with them. I’ve also got some kind of bite on my left arm that has, over the course of the last few days, swollen a bit and is warm to the touch. My skin also feels kind of hard around the area where the bite is. I’m going to see my doctor today to make sure I wasn’t bitten by the rare Ohmygoditsdeadlya Spider or something.

In other happy health related news it looks like A. has a Staph Infection on his right foot. Staph Infections are never fun. Staph Infections in diabetics are less fun. Trying to see if I can get him in to his doctor today as well, or if at the very least his doctor can phone in some kind of prescription for him (his doctor is notoriously hard to get an appointment with – a fact I really dislike. His doctor is also over in Tampa. If it weren’t for the fact that Alex really liked his doctor a lot I’d be changing that shit, like, yesterday).

Trying very hard to get into the Christmas Spirit this year, but it’s not really happening. The decorations aren’t up yet, and while I have plans to do so this week with the boys this week I can’t say I’m really thrilled about the prospect (could be because “with the boys” generally means that I have to continually hound them to help me in the slightest and at the first opportunity they will sneak away to their respective gaming devices and leave me to do all the work). Might also have to do with the fact that it’s going to be a fairly tight Christmas, unless I open up the vein on the credit cards. The boys are pretty much taken care of at this point. Not that it required any effort. I got a few small gifts for A., and the rest of his Christmas is a check because he wants an XBox 360 and is asking everyone for money. J. is just getting money, and it is all going into the bank. He’s turning 18 in a few scant months, and it has been decided that he needs to have some kind of cash on hand if/when he decides that living at home is far too much of a drag for him to put up with any more. Response to the Christmas Eve party have been fairly lukewarm in regards to the number of people attending so far, which is a bit disappointing but perhaps not too terribly surprising. My place stopped being party central a while ago, so it’s no longer the first place that everyone assumes they are going to be when some kind of celebration comes up. It’s ok, though. We have some confirmations already, and as long as I’m not staring at a bunch of food and no guests at all I’m happy. It might be a bit more on the low-key side of the party spectrum, but good company and good food is fun regardless of the number of people actually in attendance. The good company part is, at this juncture, a guarantee. So all is well.

Got some good news in the Holiday party front yesterday. My Aunt and Uncle wanted to host the “family” gathering this year, and were going to do so on Christmas Eve (which has become our tradition). Unfortunately, that pretty much ruled out anyone from my household going. Our party starts at 7, and my Aunt and Uncle live about 45 minutes away with traffic. They wanted to start at 5. So not happening. My Mom also works that day, and won’t get off work until 6. Instead of missing out on having everyone there, they’ve decided to move their party to the Saturday before Christmas so we can all attend. Hooray! I may not hang out with my extended family often, but I’ve seen them every Christmas for as long as I can remember. The older I’ve gotten the less and less Christmas has been something that revolved around the entire family and the more it’s become around everyone trying to find time to have their function fit in with the others. I’d have been really sad if we moved to the point where we didn’t even see each other at all.

Of course, Mom is having a gathering at her place on the 29th as well.

Three parties in one week.

Oy, my poor belly.

I do have good news in the diet and exercise front, though. Despite the fact that I haven’t posted my numbers or any new pictures here in a while, I have still continued to make forward progress. I managed to not gain weight during the run of Gorey Stories, which is a big change from my normal pattern of behavior. I was up a few pounds the week after, but I’ve taken that off and am currently sitting at 257.4 pounds. That’s 22.6 pounds down from the 280 I was back in April of this year (which is when I started to see my workouts with Yourself Fitness start having an impact on my weight…I started using the program regularly in late December of last year). I would very much like to hit 250 before the end of the year, but realistically I know how I eat at parties and I know I have a lot of parties coming up. If I can maintain or lose just a little over the next few weeks I’ll be happy.

Things in the old World of Warcraft have been going pretty well recently, too. Just this last weekend we had two different groups inside one of the 10 player raids and each one of them managed to kill off the big bad named guy at the end. We’re looking at possibly moving into some of the 25 player content after the end of the year. Not too shabby for our little casual guild. Slow? You bet. Frustrating at times. Yep. But the company is good, and in the end that’s what makes the game worth playing.

Well, I need to get motivated here. Figure that’s enough for now. I’m sure I missed a few things, but I generally do…I’ll see if I can’t remember them when I post my next update…in…like…3 months or something.